Backsliding Fearlessly-The Beginning

Forty years ago.  Me and my best friend Russ went out and bought our first music instruments; he bought a Music Man bass, and I purchased  a Zickos drumset and it became the start of a long and pot filled road of bumps and bruises and plenty of music along the way.  When we got together when Russ was on vacation from the Marines we recorded four songs of subpar note. Not that nobody is going to remember the clunky one time takes of Godzilla, Same Old Song And Dance and a Blues jam number.  I'm sure it's cringe-worthy but we all have to start from somewhere.

During the recording of the first get together this was the cymbal lineup.  At that point, I couldn't afford to buy the best cymbals so I relied on what was available.  The only Zildjian I had was this 20 inch crash ride.  Behind that cymbals was one of two Zym Cymbals 16 inches, one had a clang sound, I'm guessing a china type but it sounded terrible and the other had a nifty ride sound but if you hit too hard it would bend out of shape.  Then a Camber 16 inch crash to go with the 13 inch Camber High Hats, which gave it a trashy sound.  The two splashes are junk. I got one for 10 dollars at Otteingers' music and the other was a throw in.  The seven inch splash  I still have for some reason.  I did have a nice professional drumset but alas, the cymbals were beginners.  And sounded like that.

Over time, all of the cymbals would be replaced except for the Zildjian 20 inch.   The original intent was to buy Paiste Cymbals but nobody had them and I did find a 404 16 inch crash later on.  So, I ended up getting a 18 inch Camber Crash, which had no projection whatsoever.  But hey, they looked cool in the picture.

After Russ returned back to the Marines, I continued to work vigorously on getting better.  I had no coordination  on the foot petal but a bit on the hi hat side of things.  This posed a problem if I was going to play live.  It seems to me that I took my frustration out on the cymbals that I had.  Going back to my early toy drums, the poor cymbals would be bent, cracked and destroyed.  I really don't know why the cymbals suffered, it may have something to do with seeing Frosty, Lee Micheals drummer wail away on flying cymbals on a song way back when I saw him in 1969 on a forgotten music show The Music Scene.   Even back then, I don't think I played drums, but rather being angry at the world. 

The bass drum was the last thing I mastered and it took a good three months to even do a straight four four.  I think that would have made me more in line of being a percussionist rather than regular drums but somehow I kept pushing on the idea that when Russ returned home, we would start the band up.

Since I didn't know anybody in the music scene, I kept to myself. I did jam with Doug Spinler and his dad in 1981 once I finally felt comfortable enough to play.  Eventually, in 1982, I begin to play more freely with Mike Swearingen and a few co horts in the Open Highway Band. 

Looking forty years onward, my music journey was like anybody else, Big hopes and dreams and driving my mom up the wall with my wayward drum solos while living at home.  Somehow I got better along the way.    That young dude in the picture would not know what was lying ahead, and to be honest I didn't think I would be around still playing 4 decades on.  Only time will tell if he would have made the right decision despite it all.